Suffering just for shoes‏

As you read this, cows in India are enduring horrific abuse. After a lifetime of grueling work pulling heavy loads or confinement on filthy dairy factory farms, they’re sent on forced marches so that they can be skinned for the fashion industry. You can help PETA end their misery!

In 1999, I went on the road to follow the cattle trail in India. That first, groundbreaking investigation of the Indian leather trade exposed hideous suffering, and what I witnessed was burned into my mind forever.

Every year, thousands of cows face a long, arduous journey to the slaughterhouse during which they’re beaten mercilessly and not offered even a drop of water. Most will have their tails broken and tobacco or hot chilies rubbed into their eyes in order to force them to keep moving. Some will collapse and die from hunger, exhaustion, or injuries en route.

Many people are surprised to find out that most leather comes from India, where the intense misery that I’ve just described is routine.

I’ve seen firsthand what happens when the cattle who survive the marches reach the slaughterhouse: They’re thrown to the blood-drenched floor, their legs are bound tightly with ropes, their necks are forcibly twisted to the side, and their throats are cut right in front of other cattle, whose short fur stands on end in terror and whose muscles twitch constantly with dread. I will never forget those hideous scenes.

The leather produced from the skins of the cows slaughtered in India and other Asian countries is exported to North America and throughout the world. Many consumers just don’t realize how much suffering cows and other animals endure for leather—and they unwittingly contribute to this horror every time they buy a pair of leather shoes, a leather bag, or leather gloves.

As with the recently released PETA Asia investigation of Chinese angora farms, our leather campaign has attracted attention in India and around the world. We began a global boycott of Indian and Chinese leather that has since led more than 40 international retailers—including Casual Corner, L.L.Bean, J.Crew, Liz Claiborne, Kenneth Cole, Timberland, Eddie Bauer, Clarks, Florsheim, Nike, and Gap Inc.—to refuse to buy leather from those countries. Thanks to media coverage and PETA outreach, millions of consumers learned about the cruelty of leather as well as the growing availability of high-quality nonleather items. And designers and manufacturers were given new impetus to craft products that aren’t made of leather.

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